By: Lydia Crawley
The Parsons Advocate
Catherine Fleichman and Dave Esch, President of Alpine Heritage Preservation, Inc. presented the Tucker County Commission with an update on the renovations at Cottrill’s Opera House in Thomas on February 18th during the Commission’s regular session.
“In the last five years, we’ve been making good progress,” Esch said.
Esch said that in the last five years, the organization has hired a Historic Theatre Consultant, done workshops, community outreach, sought grants, hired an Architect.
“We are, as they say, ‘shovel ready,’ to start rebuilding,” Esch said. “If we had the money, we could have a ground breaking in two to three months. We could open the doors 18 months after that.”
Esch said that he and Fleichman just returned from a trip to Washington D.C. where they spoke with Senators Justice about help with grant funding. They dropped in at Senator Capito’s office, as well as at Representative Moore’s office. Esch said that all three were very supportive of the project.
“We had two grant request in this year,” Esch said. “We just learned that we didn’t get the ARC grant.”
Esch said that his organization intends to reapply for the ARC grant again next year. All the organization requested of the Commission was support for applying for grants.
“The main thing that we are here for and asking for, is simply your support for those grants,” Esch said. “You’ve written us letters of support in the past, we would like to look forward to having that support in the future.”
Esch said that local governmental support, as well as State Senators are crucial to grant applications. Esch said that if the organization had gotten both grants that they applied for this year, the project would have been done.
“We are that close, we have a fair amount of money in the bank,” Esch said.
The goal of the project is to host shows, weddings, after school programs, concerts in conjunction with the Purple Fiddle and to be a multi-use facility for the community, Esch said.
Esch showed the design for a new balcony that will allow better viewing of the stage.
“I think the design is spectacular,” Esch said. “You still see the wood trusses, so before the show the lights can be in the wood trusses above you. The brick piers in the walls are the original brick piers.”
The design will also feature movable seating on the floor to accommodate meetings, weddings, or after school camps.
The ground floor currently contains two shops, but eventually will only contain one, Esch said. One side will be converted into the Theatre’s lobby.
“When nothing is going on upstairs, we don’t want that to just be a black hole on the street,” Esch said. “Because we think the livelihood of Thomas is the activity on the street, the shops. So we’re designing it to be a, one of our donors suggested we make it a wine bar. Maybe that’s what it is. Maybe its, Starbucks has shown us that you can have two coffee shops on the same block. Maybe its Tip Top Two. Maybe its another Tip Top on the other end of Thomas. But its some type of activity in the lobby space.”
The Theatre will also offer ground floor ADA bathrooms that are slated to be open during all major events in Thomas, Fleichman and Esch said.
The Theatre has already scheduled two programs, according to Esch. The organization will be bringing the Vintage Theatre Group out of Clarksburg to Tucker County High School in Spring to teach a Shakespeare course under the English program and the possibility of a summer camp for kids.
“We are trying to do a summer camp this summer up on the mountain,” Esch said. “We are trying to talk about having two sessions. One tied together with Davis-Thomas Elementary Middle School and then another session tied together with Tucker Valley Elementary Middle School.”
Esch said that Elementary Middle School summer camps may be a next year collaboration, but that the organization would like to get it up and running this year. However, he was unsure if it was feasible for 2026.
Esch also said that the organization was also planning to sponsor a school play.
The organization is in talks with the High School. Esch said the organization has offered to underwrite the cost of the play and pay for a director. Esch said that plans are currently in the discussion phase with the school.
“They’re fun and they are a big part of somebody’s education,” Esch said. “Its something we think is an important thing and its something we see as an important part of our mission, K-12 education.”
The Theatre has a Jazz performance lined up for the fall, Esch said. Bob Thompson will be traveling from Charleston to perform in conjunction with Timberline. Esch said that plans for the organization include having a Spring and a Fall Performing Arts Festival to help boost tourism in the area.
Cottrill’s Opera House is owned by Alpine Heritage Preservation, Inc., a 501(c)(3) tax exempt nonprofit organization. The organization has been restoring the Opera House since 1981.
The lobby of the renovated Opera House is anticipated to be open for more than just show times. Esch said the board is still working out details of what exactly they want to do with the space between shows.
